Qahal

For other uses of the Hebrew term, see Kehilla disambiguation page

The Qahal (Hebrew: קהל) was a theocratic organizational structure in ancient Israelite society according to the Masoretic Text of the Bible.[1] In later centuries, Qahal was the name of the autonomous governments of Ashkenazi Jews.[2]

Etymology and meaning

The Hebrew word qahal, which is a close etymological relation of the name of Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes), comes from a root meaning "convoked [group]";[3] its Arabic cognate, قَالَ qāla, means to speak.[1]

Where the Masoretic Text uses the term qahal, the Septuagint usually uses the Koine Greek term ἐκκλησία,[1] which means "summoned group" (literally, "they who are called out").[4][5] However, in one particular part of the Priestly Code, the Septuagint instead uses the term συναγωγή,[6] literally meaning "gathering",[7] where the Masoretic Text uses qahal.[8] This last term is the origin of the word "synagogue".

Thus, the usual translation of qahal is "congregation" or "assembly", although אֲסֻפּ֑וֹת asuppot,[9] עֲצָרָה aṣarah,[10] עֵדָה ʿedah,[11] מוֹעֵד moʿed,[12] מִקְרָא miqra,[13] and סוֹד sod,[14] are also usually translated like this.[1]

In particular, the Biblical text consistently distinguishes between ʿedah and qahal.[1] One passage especially makes the distinction clear;[1] part of the Priestly Code discusses what to do if "the whole Israelite ['edah] commits a sin and the [qahal] is not aware of it[.]"[15] Scholars conclude that the qahal must be a judicial body composed of representatives of the ʿedah;[1] in some biblical passages, ʿedah is more accurately translated as "swarm".[1][16]

Biblical exclusions

Main articles: Mamzer and Eunuch

The Deuteronomic Code prohibits certain members of the ʿedah from taking part in the qahal of Yahweh. In particular, it excludes mamzers, and men who have been forcibly emasculated;[17] their descendants, up to the tenth generation, were also prohibited by this law code from taking part in the "congregation of Yahweh".[17]

The Greek term σπάδωνες "eunuch" is usually used to refer forcibly emasculated men, but it is also used in the Septuagint to denote certain foreign political officials (resembling the meaning of "eunuch").[18] This category does not include men who were born without visible testicles (conditions including cryptorchidism), or without a visible penis (conditions including hermaphroditism).[18] There is dispute, even in traditional Judaism, about whether this prohibited group of men should include those who have become, at some point since their birth, emasculated as the result of a disease[19]

No explanation of the phrase mamzer is given in the Masoretic Text, but the Septuagint translates it as "son of a prostitute" (Ancient Greek: wikt:ἐκ πόρνης).[20] In the Talmud, it is suggested that the word mamzer derives from mum zer, meaning a strange blemish,[21][22] and thus suggesting illicit parentage in some sense. There are differing opinions in the Talmud as to what this consists of, but the universally accepted ruling[23] is that it refers to the offspring of adultery (defined as relations with a married woman) or incest, as defined in the Book of Leviticus.

In the Talmud, there is fierce dispute about whether or not the term mamzer included a child who had a Jewish mother, and a father who is either non-Jewish or a slave (or both);[24][25] although the Talmud eventually concludes that this is not the case,[26] a number of scholars now suspect that this was actually the original definition of mamzer.[27] Abraham Geiger, a prominent Jewish scholar and rabbi of the mid 19th century, suggested that the etymological origin of mamzer might be ma'am zar, which means belonging to a foreign people.[28]

The Talmud interprets the exclusion of certain people from the qahal as a prohibition against ordinary Jews marrying such people.[18] Additionally, the biblical reference to the "tenth generation" was interpreted, by the classical rabbis, as an idiom meaning "forever";[18] thus the Talmud forbids all the descendants, forever, of these people from being married to ordinary Jews.[18]

In Poland-Lithuania

In the 16th century, Jewish communities in the south of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth began to set up new qahals to administer tax collection.[2] These had a minimum of 8 members, and in average Jewish communities had a membership of 22-35 Jews.[2] Their executives were elected by the local Jewish community, and consisted of 4 elders (Hebrew: zaqen) with a further 3-5 honorary members (Hebrew: tuvim).[2] There was one qahal for each Jewish community, although smaller qahals were often made subject to larger ones.[2]

These Polish-Lithuanian qahals quickly came to be politically autonomous bodies with major regulatory control over Jewish communities in the region;[2] they administered commerce, hygiene, sanitation, charity, Jewish education, kashrut, and relations between landlords and their tenants.[2] They provided a number of community facilities, such as a rabbi,[29] a mikveh (ritual bath), and gemachen (interest-free loans). Qahals even had sufficient authority that they could arrange for individuals to be expelled from synagogues, excommunicating them.[2]

However, rich and powerful individuals gradually began to dominate qahals, abusing their position for their own benefit.[2] As a result, by the 18th century, many ordinary Jews had begun to clamour for the abolition of the institution.[2] "In 1844 they were officially abolished by the tsarist regime in Ukraine and most of the rest of the empire; they continued to exist only in the Baltic region. Afterwards, Jewish communities were given jurisdiction only over religious and charitable affairs, and occasionally over education."[2]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 This article incorporates text from the 1903 Encyclopaedia Biblica article "assembly", a publication now in the public domain.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Encyclopedia of Ukraine, (1989) volume 2, entry for Kahal
  3. Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, number 6951
  4. Oxford English Dictionary, entry for ecclesiastical
  5. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, entry for ecclesia
  6. Numbers 20, LXX
  7. Oxford English Dictionary, entry for synagogue
  8. Numbers 20
  9. Ecclesiastes 12:11
  10. Nehemiah 8:18
  11. Numbers 20:11
  12. Numbers 16:2
  13. Isaiah 1:13
  14. Jeremiah 6:11
  15. Leviticus 4:13-14
  16. Judges 14:8, where it refers to bees
  17. 1 2 Deuteronomy 23:2-4 (verses 1-3 in some English translations)
  18. 1 2 3 4 5  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "marriage laws". Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company.
  19. Jacob ben Asher, Even Ha'ezer, 5
  20. Deuteronomy 23:2-4, LXX
  21. Kiddushin, 3:12
  22. Yevamot 76b
  23. Maimonidies, Mishneh Torah, Sanctity, Prohibited Relations, 15:1
  24. Yevamot 23a
  25. Yevamot 45a
  26.  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Bastard". Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company.
  27. This article incorporates text from the 1903 Encyclopaedia Biblica article "Mamzer", a publication now in the public domain.
  28. Abraham Geiger, Urschrift und Übersetzungen der Bibel in ihrer Abhängigkeit von der innern Entwicklung des Judentums [generally referred to in academic theology simply as Urschrift] (1857), pages 54-55
  29. Joseph ben Ephraim Karo, Shulchan Aruch, "Choshen Mishpat", chapter 2

Further reading

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